Wrestling: Voorhees knocks off sister school North Hunterdon, 26-25, on criterion

For a few moments during Thursday’s dual match between North Hunterdon and Voorhees, the Milk Can Trophy, awarded to the winner of the annual football game between the sister schools, was a guest of honor in the North Hunterdon student section.

There was nothing the Voorhees wrestling team could do about that trophy, but it was able to keep possession of the one it did have control over.

Voorhees defeated North Hunterdon, 26-25, on most falls criterion to win its second straight Harry Vandermark Memorial Trophy, given to the winner of the rivalry match each season in honor of the former North Hunterdon wrestling coach and Voorhees athletic director, in Annandale.

In the final bout of the evening, Voorhees' Mike Muscatello majored North Hunterdon's James Hughes to tie the match on the scoreboard, 25-25, only to have the match go to the head table, where Voorhees won on Criteria E to complete the thrilling comeback.

The fall count? 1-0, thanks to Jadaen Bernstein's pin at 170 pounds.

"I can't say enough about our kids, our coaching staff, all the people that came out to support us," Voorhees coach Eric Hall said. "It was truly a team effort."

Down, 21-18, with three bouts left in the match, North Hunterdon’s Ryan Pomrinca posted a major decision at 126 pounds to bring the Annandale school, which had trailed for most of the match, all the way back for a 22-21 lead with two bouts remaining. A decision victory by Brian Smolinsky then followed to make it 25-21.

Voorhees then knew it needed a major decision from Muscatello to have a chance -- Hall said he and his assistants had already gotten a grasp on the criterion situation -- and the Glen Gardner school got it.

"He was in a tough spot," Hall said of Muscatello. "He had to get an eight-point victory. About three weights before, we start calculating (the criteria)."

Voorhees opened up the match with a decision victory from Christian Okulicz at 145 pounds, only to fall behind, 4-3, after North Hunterdon’s Mike Ciavarro notched a major decision in the next bout.

But an overtime victory by Jordan Juliano at 160 pounds, a fall by Bernstein at 170 and a decision by Nicholas Ruggiero at 182 quickly put Voorhees back in control of the match with a 15-4 lead.

North Hunterdon had hammer Liam Korbul waiting at 195 pounds, but he was not able to get bonus points, as Voorhees’ Kyle Levy battled to a decision loss. North then got three more team points when Dan Pepe decisioned Emilio Guevara at 220 pounds, making it 15-10 Voorhees.

But Voorhees heavyweight Alex Fischetti was the rally killer, earning a decision over Anthony Bugyi to push Voorhees back to an eight-point lead, 18-10. And if that hadn’t curbed North Hunterdon’s momentum, the next bout certainly did.

Down late in the third period, Voorhees 106-pounder Kyle DiNapoli scored a late takedown on North Hunterdon’s Paul Robinson to grab a lead with nine seconds left in the bout, than rode out the remaining time to make it 21-10 Voorhees.

DiNapoli was named the match's outstanding wrestler at its completion, winning the Vandermark Memorial Award, which is also awarded annually to the standout performer of the rivalry match.

But victories by Derek Ciavarro (decision at 113) and Matt Moncourtois (technical fall at 120) after DiNapoli's triumph rallied North Hunterdon again to set the stage for the dramatic finish.